Let's Get Together
by Kiss And Make Up
Summary: A series of oneshot fics. Alternate versions of those frusterating JavaJunkie moments where they pass up perfectly good opportunities to get together. LL
1. One's Got Class and the Other One Dyes

**A/N:** This is something I've been wanting to get started for a while, but never got around to it. My own little series of JavaJunkie one-shots. This one is an alternate version of Episode 4 of Season 3: "One's Got Class and the Other One Dyes."

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gilmore Girls, or any of its characters.

* * *

"There are plenty other of girls out there in the world, Jess." Luke Danes tried to reason with his nephew.

"Don't you have to get back to the diner?" Jess Mariano did not feel like talking about this. He knew there were other girls… and he didn't want to be reminded of them right now. One in particular.

Luke ignored his attempt to avoid the subject. "I mean, you can go out and at least find one that you actually care about."

Jess almost flinched at that. _I already have. _"Oh, like it's that easy."

"Yeah, it's that easy if you try."

"Hey, the girls that I like don't give a damn about me! And unlike some other people I know, I'm not gonna sit around hoping that they change their minds and suddenly notice me." _It's not like he's any further with Lorelai than I am with Rory…_

Luke scowled at this implication, knowing where Jess was going with this, but hoping he was wrong. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You fixed any neighbor's porches lately? Or you go on a picnic or you get rooked into giving a ridiculous speech at a high school?"

"Shut up." Luke couldn't handle this. Not right now, and not from this _kid_.

"At least I've got a little self-esteem."

"Shut up."

"I'm not playing Golden Retriever, hoping one day she'll turn around and fall in my arms. If she doesn't wanna be with me, then fine."

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Whatever. I gotta go, Shane's waiting."

"Oh, you mean what's-her-name?"

"Yeah, I'll bring you a new leash when I get back."

"Get outta here."

Jess stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him with a bang. Luke watched him leave, staring at the door after he was gone, trying hard not to let his brain process that conversation. Giving up after a few minutes, he sank down onto the couch and, with his head in his hands, tried to think rationally about the situation. He sat contemplating, until he suddenly broke the silence.

"He's right." He said out loud, with almost no emotion. "I _am_ pathetic."

Armed with this realization, he jumped up, grabbed his favorite green coat and the blue cap that Lorelai had given him, and calmly walked out of the apartment and down to the diner.

"Caesar!" He yelled as he opened the door. "I have to go out… I need you to close up tonight."

"Will do, boss." His chef yelled back.

Luke strolled down the street amazed at how calm he was, considering what he was planning to do. He was not usually the type of guy who did well in stressful circumstances. _Am I doing the right thing?_ He wondered as he feet carried him down the familiar path to his destination. _I guess I better be._

When he finally arrived, he walked up the steps onto the porch that he had fixed at least ten times. He knocked on the door, but nobody answered. He knocked again, and when he still got no response, he sat down on the steps and decided he'd just wait until they came back home.

---

"So you went there to talk about your business success, and ended up talking about getting pregnant at sixteen?" Rory Gilmore asked her mother as they walked home from dinner at Al's Pancake World.

"Yeah, but the worst part was when we left, and Luke would not stop laughing at me." Lorelai replied.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Ah."

"Ah, what?" Lorelai questioned her daughter.

"Nothing, it's just that this explains why you wanted to eat at Al's tonight."

"Yeah. I couldn't take another minute of that smug look. Not that he didn't have the right to look smug. I did drag him along after all. God, I just felt like such and idiot… I don't really want to talk about this anymore. Why don't you tell me about your day? Like, what made Lane decide to dye her hair purple?"

"She said she was sick of hiding all this stuff about her band from her mom, and so she wanted to do something she couldn't hide from her mom."

"And then she changed her mind because…?"

"I don't know. I mean, she was so excited when we finished, talking about how free and independent she felt. But then her mom came home, and she freaked."

"Her mom freaked? Her mom saw it?"

"No! Lane freaked. She made me climb out the window to buy black hair dye."

"Oh, what we do for our friends."

They had reached their house by now, and Rory suddenly grabbed at her mother's arm pulling them both to a stop.

"Um… mom?"

"What's wrong?"

"Luke must have been really disappointed that he didn't get to make fun of you more at dinner."

"What?" Lorelai turned her head in the direction that Rory was looking, and her jaw dropped when she saw Luke sitting on her porch. He saw them too, and he quickly got up and made his way towards them.

"I'll just go inside." Rory said, scampering away, not wanting to get caught in the middle of the scene that might be coming, but deciding to instead watch through the window.

"Lorelai." Luke began.

"Hold it right there, mister." Lorelai held up her hand to prevent him from finishing whatever it was he was going to say. "You had better not have come here to make fun of me some more. I'm sure it was very funny to you, but you didn't get glared at to death by a mob of angry soccer moms."

"I'm not going to make fun of you." Luke interrupted her.

"Oh." Lorelai looked confused now. "Well, then why are you here."

"I just… I got into this argument with Jess."

"Ah, I see."

"No—he said something that made me think. And he was absolutely right."

"About what."

"I'm tired of just waiting."

"Luke, you're really going to have to give me some more information. I'm really lost on what is going on here."

"Well…" Luke's courage began to falter slightly, and he took a deep breath, determined not to leave until he did what he came there to do. "Lorelai, you know that your friendship means a lot to me, right?"

"Um…" Lorelai was totally thrown by what seemed to her to be a change in the subject.

"I don't want to lose that… but I can't just keep waiting." He said again.

"For what, Luke? Waiting for what?" Lorelai was practically shouting now, feeling incredibly frustrated at not understanding the situation.

Her anger seemed to fuel Luke on, instead of discouraging him. In one quick motion, he pulled her close to him and kissed her hard. Ending the kiss almost as quickly as he started it, he pulled back and looked into her eyes, searching for a reaction. All he could find was shock. _In for a penny…_ he thought, and decided to go all the way:

"Lorelai, I love you."

Her shock grew with that statement, but soon her shock faded away and all that remained was a smile. She had been waiting for this too, although admittedly not as long as he had.

"Luke, I love you too."

Hearing those words, he pulled her in for another kiss, this time more gentle. She moved her arms around his neck as his moved around her waist. The kiss seemed to go on for hours, yet when they pulled apart, both felt it hadn't lasted long enough. After they caught their breath, their lips found each other once more, as they rejoiced in their love.

Inside the house, Rory smiled, at this unanticipated, yet at the same time expected, turn of events. She pulled away from the window, letting the curtains fall closed and walking away to give the new couple their privacy.


	2. Christopher Returns

**A/N:** Another one-shot, yay! This one is from Season 1, Episode 15: "Christopher Returns." I tried not to be too mean to Christopher, because I really hate him… but I actually liked him a lot until "Wedding Bell Blues." So I didn't want to make him a bad guy in this fic.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything of Gilmore Girls. Also, parts of the dialogue were taken from TWIZ TV (dot) com.

* * *

"That was...that was a memorable evening." Christopher stated, referring to the blowout between the Gilmores and the Haydens at the slightly unconventional Friday-night dinner. His parents had once again brought up the subject of Rory's accidental conception and how it was all Lorelai's fault that Christopher never went to Princeton. Chris knew that that wasn't true though. He had never really planned on going through with college, but he didn't need to let his father know that.

"Oh yes," Lorelai replied, her bitter sarcasm escaping, "it was beautiful in there. We should commemorate it with an oil painting or a severed head or something." She took a deep breath and looked down at the view below her. She had always loved the view from this balcony. It helped calm her down whenever she was really upset with her parents, which, as it turns out, was a lot. The balcony was one of the few good things about this house of horrors.

"Next time we get this group together we're gonna have to frisk for weapons." Christopher joked, trying to cheer her up.

"Hand out gags." Lorelai went along, although she was only half-joking.

"Employ six individual cones of silence." Lorelai finally laughed, and Christopher smiled, glad that he caused it. He still loved Lorelai so much. He had grown up a lot, even if his business was still failing, and he planned on getting back together with her. He was ready. That was the real reason he had gone to Stars Hollow. "Boy the old balcony is still the same isn't it?"

"In all it's beautiful away-from-them-ness."

"Perfect hide-out—totally private. We spent a lot of time out here."

"Sneaking dad's telescope, scanning the sky for alien ships."

"Never found any."

"Huh. And then when we were older, scanning the neighbors houses for naked people."

Christopher laughed, "Found a couple of those."

"Mrs. Dominski undulating in her big fat underalls is forever carved into my brain." Lorelai was laughing now too.

"And in mine." Christopher pulled a bottle of tequila out from under his jacket and held it up in a mock-toast: "here's to Mrs. Dominski's underalls."

"Aw, you're holding out on me."

Christopher takes a drink from the bottle, before offering it to Lorelai. "Take it. And in an effort to further chronicle this balcony's history, we are now in the immediate vicinity of the spot upon which was Rory's initial emanation." He knew that wasn't very subtle, but he was beyond caring. He had to somehow bring the conversation towards them so he could hint at a relationship.

"Yes we are. Here's to Rory." She brought the alcohol to her lips and tipped her head back, relishing the feel of it burning down her throat.

"The bright spot in all the darkness."

"And how."

Chris could see that this approach was not going anywhere, and decided that maybe a more subtle route _would_ work better. "You know even if you hadn't gotten pregnant and everything had gone as planned, I still never would have made it through Princeton."

"Oh I don't believe that." Lorelai knew that Christopher may have been a little goofy and immature—but there was no doubt that he was smart. Very smart. And she liked to believe the best in people. Well, except for her parents.

"Yeah, well that's why you're you and I'm not." Realizing he did not have the patience for the subtle approach, he decided to just forgo any conversation and let his actions speak instead. Quickly, so he didn't have any time to lose his nerve, he reached out and pulled her to him, pressing his lips to hers and waiting to see her reaction.

He didn't have to wait very long; Lorelai was kissing him back almost right away. After a moment they pulled away, before he pulled her to him again. _This is nice._ She thought. _I forgot what a good kisser Christopher was. Much better than Max. Hmm… I wonder if he's a better kisser than Luke. I wonder if Luke is a good kisser at all. Maybe- Oh my god!_

"Luke!" She gasped aloud as she jumped away from Christopher in a near panic.

Christopher looked at her confused. "Call me crazy, but I feel like I should be offended that you're calling out another man's name while kissing me."

"No! I was supposed to help Luke paint his diner tonight. I totally forgot. Christopher, this was nice… but it was a mistake. We can't do this. And, oh, I don't know! I just- I have to go. God, I can't believe I forgot! I'm a rat. I have to go." Lorelai rambled and mumbled as she scurried about, making sure she had everything. She was about to head back into her bedroom and downstairs, but then remembered what happened earlier. She couldn't risk a long confrontation with her mother right now.

"Chris, could you bring Rory back in my car? I'll call a cab."

"No, Lorelai, you're in a big hurry. You take your car and Rory and I will call a cab."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, go on." Christopher watched her vanish down the balcony, embarrassed about what happened and anxious to be away from her, but at the same time, still wanting to be with her always.

Lorelai rushed to her car, so worried about Luke thinking badly of her that she never even realized what she had been thinking about him while kissing Christopher.

---

Lorelai sped down the roads, making it back to Stars Hollow in record time. She slowed down as she reached the town limits and made her way to the diner. She pulled into a parking space just in time to see Luke shutting everything down.

"Wait!" She cried as she slammed her car door shut. She ran up to the diner door and starting knocking frantically. "Luke!"

Luke turned around and smiled. She hadn't stood him up after all. He opened the door and let her in.

"I thought you weren't coming." He said, showing no emotion in his voice, but with the smile still gracing his features. The smile that only Lorelai Gilmore could bring to his face.

"You're not getting out of this that easy mister." She walked past him, and picked up the plastic tarps they had gotten and set to work covering everything. Soon they were ready for the real painting. She walked over to the paint cans and stated to open them when Luke interrupted her.

"Aren't you a little over-dressed for this?" Lorelai looked down at her dress and nodded in agreement.

"I forgot. Um, I have some jeans in the car, I think."

"Why don't you go get them, and then you can borrow one of my shirts."

"Okay." She ran out to her car, and soon she was back, jeans in hand. Luke led her up the stairs to his apartment. He went straight to his closet and brought her one of his many flannel shirts.

"Aw, cute!" Lorelai smiled at him. "We'll match. We'll be like a real painting team with uniforms and everything! I've never been part of a team before. Sports aren't really my thing. But now, I have finally found where I belong."

"Just go change." Luke scowled at her, though his stomach did a little flip when she said she belonged with him. He knew that wasn't what she meant, but it sure sounded nice anyway.

---

"No, no, no, Luke. You're doing it wrong."

"It's paint." Luke argued. "It goes on the wall, the wall becomes a different color. How could there be different ways to do it?"

"Oh, Luke. You have so much to learn." She laughed as she demonstrated the right way to use the roller. She made him copy here, and when he finished, she jokingly patted him on the head, unfortunately forgetting that the roller was still in her hand.

"Oh! I'm sorry." She said, not sounding very apologetic as she laughed harder now, looking at the big spot of paint that she got on his ear.

"You don't sound like it." Luke grumbled.

"Well, I am." Lorelai tried to reassure him through her obvious amusement.

"I don't think you are." Luke crept towards her. "But I think you will be." He splattered her with his own roller and joined in her laughter as she shrieked in protest. They quickly called a truce before it became an all out war.

"Hey, you want a beer?" Luke offered.

"Yeah, that'd be great."

Luke pulled a couple of bottles out of the fridge and they sat down in the middle of the diner floor and took a break. He looked around at what they had done. They were almost finished, and he had to admit: it looked good. They sat in silence for a while, content to just be drinking together. When Lorelai finished, she laid her bottle on its side and began to spin it around on the floor. She watched it, mesmerized at the way it kept on going after she let it go.

"What are you doing?"

She looked at Luke, lost for a second before coming back.

"Spinning the bottle." She replied, her answer as unhelpful as usual.

"Why?"

Lorelai didn't really know why she was doing it; it was just fun to watch. She didn't want to say that though. That was boring. She wasn't supposed to be boring.

"Haven't you ever played spin-the-bottle, Luke?"

"No."

"Well, one person spins the bottle, and whoever it lands on—"

"I know what spin the bottle is."

"But you just said you didn't."

"No, I said I've never played it."

They stopped the conversation there, and both fell silent watching the bottle slowly come to a stop. Both were shocked when it actually stopped pointing directly at Luke. Lorelai smiled, seeing a new opportunity to make Luke feel uncomfortable.

"Well."

"Well, what?"

"Aren't you going to kiss me?" She smirked as he shifted in place. _Ha! 3 shades of red! I bet I can get more._ She loved this game of making him as embarrassed as possible.

"I told you, I don't play spin-the-bottle."

"No, you said you never have before. There's a first time for everything."

Luke saw what she was doing. She knew he wouldn't do it. She just wanted to see him squirm. Suddenly, he wanted the upper hand. He didn't know why, it wasn't like he had ever had it before, but he got this desperate urge to call her bluff. Maybe it wasn't really that he wanted the upper hand. Maybe he just really wanted to kiss her. And so he did.

He pulled back almost right away, ending the kiss as quickly as he started it. He looked into Lorelai's eyes trying to find a reaction there. He was very nervous, afraid of the fact that he may have just ruined a great friendship. Before he could dwell on it for too long, her lips were back on his and they were kissing again, this time much harder and longer. The kiss deepened, and somebody moaned, although neither one could tell who.

"Definitely better than Christopher." Lorelai muttered quietly to herself when they pulled apart, remembering her earlier speculations.

"What?" Luke was still slightly shocked, hardly able to believe that he had finally kissed Lorelai Gilmore.

"Nothing." She kissed him again, and pulled him up, so that they were both standing. She brought her hands up around his neck, and his went around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

Carefully, she guided him towards the stairs and they climbed up to his apartment, lips never breaking apart, the unfinished painting completely forgotten.


	3. In the Clamor and the Clangor

**A/N:** here's another one shot to add to this collection. I know I should be working on my WIP, _As It Should Be_,but I screwed myself up because I love the ending of my latest chapter so much, that I just don't know where to start my next one! Haha. I'm going away for a few days on college visits, but hopefully when I get back I can get started on it again.

This one is from episode 4-11: "In the Clamor and the Clangor." I know a lot of people have already done this one, but oh well. Now I have too.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls, and this story had A LOT of lines that I don't own either. (They all come from TWIZ TV dot com)

**another note:** obviously, I do not _usually_ approve of cheating of any kind, but this doesn't really count as cheating since Luke and Lorelai are _obviously_ meant to be together... and Nicole is a bitch. -wink- -wink-

* * *

"You think everything is your business." Luke yelled, shaking the snow off of the shovel in his hand. "Everything is about you! Well, here's a newsflash. Some things are not about you." 

Lorelai looked at him in astonishment. She had thought that he came over to make up. When had this become another fight?

"Why are you yelling at me?"

Luke ignored her questioning and continued with his rant. "If I want to move in with Nicole, it concerns her and it concerns me, and that is it."

"Yeah, I know."

"It does not concern you! It is none of your business! I don't have to tell you _anything_! And you do not have the right to make me feel guilty because I didn't tell you anything."

"I wasn't trying –"

"I have been tying my own shoes since I was I was four, I have repairing my own car since I was fourteen, and I have been making my own decisions since I could crawl!"

"What does any of that have to do with anything?"

"I owe you _nothing_!" Luke said quieter, trying to convince himself more than her.

"Fine."

"Nothing!" He repeated.

"Fine!"

"And shovel your walk!" He yelled again as he turned and began to walk away. "It is a safety hazard and you can't just walk past it and ignore the fact that the snow is up to your ass!"

"You've got my shovel!"

Luke held the shovel up and shook it at her. "I loaned it to you three years ago!"

He stomped off angrily as Lorelai turned to go inside, slamming the door behind her.

"That didn't look quite like the pleasant conversation that I was expecting…" Sookie stated as Lorelai approached her.

"Yeah. Apparently, shoveling my walk doesn't mean 'I'm sorry.' Apparently, it means 'Stay the hell out of my life.' God that man is so frustrating sometimes. While it is entirely possible that I was overreacting a _little_, how does he not understand why I would be upset that he didn't tell me he moved? I mean, I'm not crazy, right? Friends tell each other when they move?"

"Yes, they do. But maybe he didn't mention it because he doesn't think it's a big deal."

"Not a big deal? He doesn't live in Stars Hollow anymore!"

"I know. Moving is a big deal, but he was already married to her. He probably figured moving in together was the only logical next step, and then assumed you would figure the same."

"Well, doesn't he know what happens when you assume?"

"Huh?"

"Nevermind, what's your point?"

"Maybe he just felt guilty. He felt guilty, but didn't want to feel guilty, so instead of apologizing, he's trying to make it your fault so that he has nothing to feel guilty for."

"But it's not my fault."

"No, his not telling you about his moving was not your fault; but, honey, you can't have a fight with only one person. It takes two to argue."

"I don't think that's how the saying goes."

"Lorelai," Sookie looked at her knowingly, "if you really want to end this fight, you're probably going to have to be the one to end it. You can't just wait for Luke to do all the work."

"But, I don't wanna" Lorelai pouted. Sookie rolled her eyes, and got up to leave.

"It's your decision. The ball is clearly in your court now. You can take a swing, or you can just let it pass you by."

---

Later that night, Lorelai was lying on the couch, talking to Rory on the phone. She really wanted this thing with Luke to end, she missed him already, but she didn't want to be the one to end it.

"This is stupid," Rory loved her mom, but she could see that this conversation was heading nowhere. "Just go to Luke's!"

"No way."

"Oh, come on, you guys always fight," Rory tried to reason.

"Not like this."

"And then you make up."

"No, I'm not going to Luke's."

"You're gonna starve to death."

"Well fine, I will starve to death, because I'm not going to reward bad behavior."

"Is there something in the fridge?"

"Nothing edible."

"There's Beefaroni. You like Beefaroni."

"I'm not in the mood for Beefaroni."

"Mom, you have to do something."

"I need a suggestion."

"Have you read The Bell Jar?"

"Huh! Not funny!"

"Okay, you know what, you're on your own."

"No, no! Come on!"

"I have to study and you're in your stubborn mood."

"Hey! I sat up with you all night when you had the chicken pox. I held your hands so that you couldn't scratch your face and scar your perfect skin. You look that way because of me."

"Night, mom."

"But, ah, the chicken pox!"

"Beefaroni, it's calling you!" Rory hung up, leaving her mother to fend for herself. Lorelai placed her hand on her stomach as it gave a particularly loud grumble. The hunger pain that followed gave her enough determination to finally want to end this silly feud herself.

Walking down the familiar path to the diner, Lorelai cringed as the bells went off. She passed by a couple of people outside of Doose's yelling for them to shut up. She also overheard Mrs. Patty cursing the bells as she tried to keep her dance lessons going in spite of the clearly unwelcome disruption.

Finally spotting Luke through the window in his diner, the perfect way to end this rift hit her—the bells! Luke hated them even more than everyone else, and she was willing to bet a lot that he would be willing to help her break them. She would use this opportunity of breaking the bells to fix things between them.

She walked straight into his building like she always had before, a look of determination on her face.

"You want to help me break the bells?"

"I'll get my toolbox." Luke says, without any hesitation. He turned and headed up the stairs. Lorelai smiled, glad things were back to normal, and followed him, grabbing a donut on her way up.

She enters his apartment and looks around the room in confusion._ What is going on? Why is all his stuff still here? His bed's not made! And there are dirty dishes in the sink. This is weird._

"Got it, let's go." Luke says, walking to the door.

"Right behind you."

---

When the got there, the church was locked, and they had to break in. The headed up the aisle, and Lorelai frowned at how dirty it was.

"Oy! Would it kill God to dust?"

Luke was still a little angry at her, but he knew that wasn't fair, so instead of snapping at her bad humor, he decided to just ignore it: "Okay, now just hold the flashlight, do not do any moving spotlight gags and point it at me and yell 'Freeze, drop your weapons.'"

"How about if I shine it on the wall and do a dirty hand puppet show?"

Luke had to smile a little, he couldn't help it! _Damn, she's hard to be mad at._ "Just stand back so the lightning only strikes you."

"So, what's the game plan here? Personally, I thought we could whack the bells really hard with a hammer."

"Uh, you don't break bells with a hammer." He rolled his eyes.

"Okay, I'm out. What's your plan, Clyde?"

"Well, I was thinking we could just jam the turnbuckle, or wedge the main mechanism, just for fun disconnect a few of the clappers; Contrary to popular belief you don't have to break every bell. If you just damage a couple, say the tierce and the prime, you pretty much ruin the set."

_God, how does he know this stuff? Does he know everything? _"You must have been the top of your class at hunchback school."

Luke leaned closer to her, as if revealing something top-secret: "Well, let's just say you can wait your whole life waiting for bells to fall into disrepair. Sometimes they need a push."

_Oh my God!_ "No way! You broke the bells."

"You're welcome."

---

"Luke," Lorelai began hesitantly, as she handed him a screwdriver. "How come you told me you moved?"

"I did move." He said in confusion, without even looking up at her.

"Well, you may have moved, but none of your stuff did."

"What are you talking about? Uh, hand me the open-ended wrench."

"Luke, I was in your apartment. It's exactly the same."

"No, it's not."

"I just think it's weird you're pretending you moved when you didn't."

Luke finally stopped working on the bells and looked her in the eye. "I did move."

"Luke, your bed wasn't even made."

"So?"

"There were dishes in the sink, some kind of shake in the blender, Mega-Man protein powder on the counter. Remind me to mock you for that later, by the way."

"Can we talk about something else? Or better yet, let's not talk and just get this done."

Lorelai ignored his attempt to change the conversation. No matter how much Luke insisted that he was moved in with Nicole, Lorelai just kept bringing up the things left out in his apartment. Eventually, Luke had had enough.

"You know what, you're doing it again." The anger from earlier was starting to resurface.

"Doing what again?" Now Lorelai was the one who was confused.

"You're passing judgment on my relationship with Nicole."

"I'm not passing judgment."

"You passed judgment on our marriage, you passed judgment on our divorce and now you're passing judgment on our living together."

"I'm not passing judgment on you living together. You're passing judgment on you living together… by not living together."

"You know, I was a little tipsy on that cruise ship, but I don't remember anyone pronouncing us husband and wife and Lorelai."

"Well, they may as well have, because I spend as much time with Nicole as you do."

"And the judgment's back!"

"I could move in with you guys. You wouldn't know."

"You know, none of this is any of your business."

"It's absolutely my business."

"How?"

"Because! I wasted a week of my life adjusting to the idea that you had moved only to find out that you haven't moved."

"How much adjusting did you have to do? Nothing's changed! I still see you everyday, I still cook your food, I still serve your coffee. Why do you care?"

"I care."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want you to move." Lorelai was starting to feel uncomfortable with the direction of this conversation. She was heading to a place where feelings lay buried, wher even she had yet to acknowledge their presence.

"Why? Why don't you want me to move?" Luke was almost yelling at this point.

Now it was Lorelai who attempted to change the topic. She picked up the wrench he had asked for earlier and thrust it towards him. "Here." She was practically shaking. "Just fix the bells. Or, un-fix them, I guess. Whatever."

Luke took the wrench from her, then placed it right back in the toolbox. He looked at her and waited until she met his gaze. Then he asked again, though much softer this time: "Why don't you want me to move?"

He was standing much closer to her now, trying hard not to think the things he always thought when he thought about Lorelai. _I'm married, dammit!_ He knew that his marriage to Nicole wasn't really the reason he was trying not to have _those _kind of thoughts. No matter how much trouble he gave Lorelai for her judgment, he knew she was right; he knew that his marriage was a big joke. No, he didn't want to have those thoughts, because he didn't want to get his hopes up. There was a chance that the reason Lorelai was so bothered was because she had feelings for Luke, but if he let himself think that and then found out he was wrong… Well, Luke always had the belief that you should keep your expectations low. That way you wouldn't be constantly disappointed.

"I just…" Lorelai couldn't continue her thought. Luke kept getting closer and closer, and she was finding it hard to concentrate on _breathing_, let alone actually putting together a sentence.

Luke stopped moving nearer, and just stared at her. He wasn't going to be the one to close the distance between them. That had to be Lorelai. He wanted her to so badly, but he wasn't sure if that was what she wanted.

Luckily for him, it was.

Unable to stand the tension any longer, Lorelai finally brought her hands up to his face, and pulled him down to meet her in a fierce kiss, full of all the emotions that she wanted to convey to him. Then she pulled away quickly as she remembered:

"Luke, you're married!"

Luke was breathing hard and fast, and stood in shock for a moment, unable to believe what had just happened. _I was kissing Lorelai!_ He thought happily, before what she said finally registered in his mind. _Oh, right, that._ He looked at her again for a moment, before stepping closer and pulling her back into his arms.

"I don't have to be." He said.

Lorelai grinned back at him, understanding what he meant. As far as they were concerned, Nicole was out of the picture. They could just make that official later. She didn't really care anymore. All she cared about at that moment was that being there, in Luke's arms, she felt happy, and safe, and … something else that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

He leaned down and kissed her again, this time more loving and full of promises of the future, and Lorelai realized what the last emotion felt like.

_Home_.

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**A/N2:** I like to occasionally look at my 'stats' to see how many hits I have on my stories, because it makes me feel happy (pathetic, I know, oh well). Can anyone tell me why the hits got all weird? I had over 1700 hits on this story, and now I have 48. Someone please tell me why! 


	4. That Damn Donna Reed

**A/N:** This one is from Season 1, Episode 14: "That Damn Donna Reed." This is probably the most overused Java Junkie episode in FanFiction. I liked my first two of these the best because they weren't so obvious, but my last two have been. Oh well. Hopefully my next one will be more creative. Here's one to pass the time until then.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. And I thank TWIZ TV (dot) com very much for the dialogue at the beginning of this story.

* * *

"I swear, she went over there." Lorelai pointed to the corner of her living room in frustration. 

"We looked over there." Luke argued.

"Well, she went under that chair and she didn't come out." Lorelai knew the chick couldn't really be over there, but it wouldn't hurt to check again, right?

"We moved the chair; we searched the floor, nothing."

"Well then she went under the chair and through a hole in the floor."

"There is no hole in the floor." Luke rolled his eyes.

"Well maybe there was a hole in the floor and she crawled through it and fixed it."

"So she's a super intelligent chick with great physical and deductive skills?" Luke tried fruitlessly to show Lorelai how ridiculous she was being.

"Yes."

"Oh, this is not a chick I want to find."

"Hey, Luke, what did you mean earlier?"

"What are you talking about?" Luke was completely thrown by the giant jump in the conversation topic.

"When you got here. You made some comment about me not really having a chick in the house."

"Hmm. _Damn. I thought she'd forgotten about that._ Luke didn't want to tell her what he'd thought—what he had stupidly let himself hope. He had hid his feelings from her for so long, there was no sense in uncovering them now. It wasn't like he would get anything from it. It would just make things awkward between them. He couldn't stand it if that happened.

"I mean, if I didn't have a chick here, why did you think I was calling?" Lorelai continued. She was not about to let this drop. She was genuinely confused, and she wanted an answer.

"No, I thought you were calling about the chick." Luke tried to defend himself, but he was never very good at lying to her. He's become an expert at hiding things from her, at not telling her things, but outright lying to her was something entirely different. One look into her beautiful blue eyes and he just couldn't do it.

"It didn't seem like it."

"Well maybe it didn't seem like it but it was."

"Was what?"

"Was what I thought—can we just keep looking?" Luke saw he would not succeed in convincing her that he had believed her, so he tried to change the topic back to the Stella.

Lorelai however, would not go for that.

"No. We'll find her eventually. I want to know Luke. Why did you think I was calling you?"

In their arguing they had gradually been stepping closer together. Luke just noticed the distance, or lack thereof, and had an overwhelming urge to just pull her closer and kiss her senseless. Never one to act on his impulses, no matter how delightful they may seem, he began to think about whether he should. It _would_ enable him to explain the situation to her without him having to search more for the words that just seemed unable to come. But then there was still the fact of her response, and how much she would freak out. He was just leaning in closer, about to let his impulse win, when Lorelai jumped away and dove over the couch.

"What are you—?"

"There she is!" Lorelai exclaimed.

Luke laughed to himself, happy to have escaped interrogation, but still a little remorseful at another kiss with Lorelai that didn't happen. "What happened to 'we'll find her eventually'?"

"Yeah, well, that was before, when she was nowhere to be seen."

Luke decided to drop it and just help her look for the baby bird. He got down on the floor next to her and lifted up the skirt of the couch. He looked under it and caught a glimpse of its yellow feathers before it tore out and ran toward the kitchen.

Luke and Lorelai jumped up and followed it, crashing into each other on the other side of the couch.

"Ouch." Lorelai complained, rubbing her head carefully.

Luke again noticed their close proximity, but this time he successfully pushed any of those kids of thoughts out of his head to concentrate on the problem at hand.

"Hey," he realized, "don't you have food for it or anything?"

"Probably, but we don't need to worry about feeding it right now. We kind of have to catch it first. Besides, if it's hungry, it can probably find its food itself—oh!"

"Yeah."

"God! Like bait! Why didn't we think of that earlier?"

"I don't know."

Lorelai ran over to her daughter's school bags and dug through them until she pulled out a bag of birdfeed. "Ah-ha!" She went over to the birdcage and poured some of the food in the bowl, and filled up the water bowl too for good measure.

When she finished, she quietly backed away and headed back to the couch, grabbing Luke's arm and pulling him along. Luke looked down at where her hand was holding onto him and gulped. Her hand was warm, and he was having more trouble keeping _those_ thoughts away with every passing second.

The two sat on the couch in silence watching the cage and waiting. One minute passed, and then another, and soon they had been sitting there for far longer than they would have liked. But eventually their patience paid off and the tiny little bird came peeping out of her hiding place and jumped right into its cage. Lorelai sprung into action, running quietly over to the cage and locking it.

Luke got up and grabbed his coat, figuring he was no longer needed. He went over to Lorelai, who was leaning up against the wall trying to catch her breath.

"That was pretty impressive." He said.

"Yeah, even _I_ didn't know my reflexes were that great."

"No, I meant, I didn't think you were capable of staying quiet for so long." He smirked.

Lorelai frowned at him. "You may think you're funny… but you're not."

Luke just laughed and turned to leave when Lorelai called him back.

"Luke."

He walked back over to her. "Yeah?"

"You still never told me what you meant before."

"Ah, jeez. This again?" Luke sighed.

"Yeah. I just—I want to know what you thought."

"Well, I guess," he fumbled for the words, "it wasn't really something I _thought_… but more something I _hoped_."

"What does that mean?"

Knowing he was never going to get away with lying, Luke decided to just act on his impulses for once in his life. He took another step closer and pulled her to him, leaning in for a kiss.

Lorelai froze, and Luke wanted to kick himself. _Why? Why did I do that?_ He thought as he pulled away and waited for a reaction. He saw Lorelai's eyes wide open in shock and he frowned. But once Lorelai's shock faded, her eyes returned to normal, her lips curved up in a smile, and she threw her arms around Luke's neck to pull him to her for another kiss.


End file.
